Drowsy Maggie

Last night Lynn and I premiered our Celtic Duo, Drowsy Maggie, for Friday Nights Live! in front of City Hall.  Lots of our friends came by and we had a great time.

The Man in the Wooden Hat

On tap for next week's book discussion - Jane Gardam's The Man in the Wooden Hat.  Generally I do not enjoy reading about unhappy marriages.  This novel (a companion to Gardam's Old Filth which I have not read) has garnered much critical praise, so I trudged through the fractured style at the beginning of the novel, settled into the plot of this solid, but lackluster marriage, not quite interested in the characters (though the sentences are well-crafted).  I always make sure I finish a book that we will be discussing, so I found myself surprisingly charmed as I hit the final (fifth) section of the book which turns in a slightly different direction.

I have gone back to reviews of the book, and I think that next week's meeting will help me to think better of the book than I did initially.

Proverbial Birds

This year I am going to try to ride my bike to school at least twice a week.  It's about 7 minutes downhill to Vista and about 12 minutes back uphill to home.  Our librarian rides her bike every day, and she lives north of Baseline, so her commute home gives her a good workout.

For me, this kills several birds with one stone: built-in exercise for me on days when I can't get to the gym for cardio, save money on gas, save the air from pollutants.

I rode this morning, and it was actually fairly pleasant.  I don't know why I haven't done this sooner.

Luis Alberto Urrea

Urrea

Last night Luis Alberto Urrea spoke at the CMC Athanaeum as part of the Claremont on the Same Page program regarding his book Into the Beautiful North. He spoke, among other things, about his life and how various people who he has met and known played their part in this particular novel.

I found it interesting that while some people I have spoken to said that they felt that most of his characters were not real, but mere cardboard or caricatures, Urrea spoke of the characteristics of flesh and blood people who were the models for his book.  I guess that truth can be stranger than fiction.

Some writers are not necessarily good speakers, but Urrea was funny and kept us listening for nearly an hour which did not feel that long.

Fox Barrel Cider

The Fox Barrel Blackberry Pear Cider that I so enjoyed in Oregon is actually available in the Inland Empire.  One just has to drive to Cucamonga to BevMo to buy it.  Thanks, Lynn, for making the stop for me!

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

This cloudy day when I woke up with the sore throat and aches that H had last week was the perfect day to stay in bed and read.  It's been awhile since I finished a book (I have a few lying around that I haven't gotten up the gumption to start), but this one appeared from my wait list for e-books at the library.  A deadline is usually helpful to getting a book read.

Anyway, this is a fun mystery featuring our heroine - a plucky, chemistry-loving 11-year-old living in 1950 England.  Alan Bradley published this, his first novel at the age of 70, and he started writing about Flavia de Luce when she came into another piece of writing and started taking over the plot.  You can read more about that on the Amazon page's interview with the author.

There are three more Flavia de Luce mysteries, and I think there will be five altogether.

Falling into Orff

We used a few xylophones to
complement the drumming.

Ah.  I know it's the start of school and new possibilities when it's time for the first workshop of the ICCAOSA year.   Almost two years ago, the board was discussing what we would like to have presented, and someone said they wanted a drumming workshop.  Today was that day, and we had a great time of not only drumming, but singing and playing a few of the Orff instruments.

I have posted a video of one of the songs at my music blog.  It's always rejuvenating to get together with other music teachers to not only share teaching ideas, but actually get to PLAY music together.

Children's Art

I am just finishing up my first week of music classes at Vista.  This year the portable next to mine has become a preschool again after a year or two of no classes.  Now I have to remember to keep the gate closed and latched, but the upside is that I get to see the chalk art the little ones have drawn on the blacktop on the way to my room. I love these self-portraits! 

Any Guesses?

Any guesses as to what these are for?  I saw them at a house on Harvard, and my first thought was that very, very small ponies now have a place to do their equestrian events.

A US Postal Service Solution

What to do about the US Postal Service?  I know that people are quick to complain about the USPS, but I, for one, LIKE those people.  Sure, the mail sometimes gets mixed up when we have a sub or new person on our route.  Lines can be long at the PO.  But where else can you send something to someone 3,000 miles away for 44 cents?  Maybe we don't like the USPS because we get too much junk and not enough "real" mail anymore.

I hear that the PO needs about 8 billion dollars to stay afloat (and keep 600,000 people off the unemployment lines).  That's about 18 billion first-class letters (I think. I'm doing some back-of-the-envelope calculations here).  I don't plan to start paying my bills with checks and stamps anymore, and neither do most people, which is one of the problems that has led to declining revenues.

However, here's my thought.  Back in February I blogged about a book I'd just read called 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik. Kralik's life took a turn for the better over the course of the year in many ways, not only when he felt gratitude for what others had done for him, but when he took the time to put that gratitude in writing as well as put a stamp on the envelope and mailed it.  His relationships with people not only transformed, he became a happier person, and his job as a lawyer became profitable once again.

We could all use some healing in this country and this world these days, couldn't we?  I would like the PO to keep running (I have a hard time with the private companies of UPS and FedEx, but that's another post) and keep those 600,000 employees off of food stamps.  I would like more people to get real mail in their boxes again. The US has a population of about 312,000,000.  If every one of these people (this is a stretch) would send one thank you note a week for a year (and everyone in Congress would send one a day...) - the $8 billion gap would nearly be eliminated.  But what would the other consequences of such an act be?